Figure 6.
NCOA4 protein induction by DFO is modulated by HIF knockdown. (A) Immunoblotting analyses of NCOA4, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and β-actin in protein lysates harvested from transfected Hep3B cells either before DFO treatment (−) or after 12, 18, or 24 hours of DFO treatment. For panel A, Hep3B cells, which had been grown in CM supplemented with 50 μM FAC (CM+FAC), were seeded at 2.5 × 105 cells per well in 6-well plates and reverse transfected with either scrambled siRNA alone (10 nM) or with both HIF1A siRNA and HIF2A siRNA (each at 5 nM) in CM+FAC without antibiotics. Twenty-four hours later, the media were replaced with antibiotic-free CM supplemented with 100 μM DFO. Proteins were harvested from each siRNA group at 4 timepoints: immediately before addition of DFO-supplemented CM (0 hr) and at 12, 18, and 24 hours after addition of DFO-supplemented media, as diagramed in supplemental Figure 11. n = 2 per group. (B) Immunoblotting analyses of NCOA4, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and β-actin in protein lysates harvested from Hep3B cells that were or were not treated with DFO, after transfection with the indicated siRNAs. The mean band density of NCOA4 relative to β-actin from Hep3B cells transfected with scrambled siRNA and not treated with DFO was normalized to 1. (C) Immunoblotting analyses of NCOA4, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and β-actin in protein lysates harvested from Hep3B cells that were treated with DFO, after transfection with the indicated siRNAs. To facilitate relative comparisons between data in panels B and C, the data in panel C have been normalized by setting the mean NCOA4-to-β-actin band density ratio from the DFO-treated scrambled siRNA group (gray hatched bars in panel C) to its normalized mean value from panel B (gray hatched bars in panel B). For panels B and C, Hep3B cells (grown in CM supplemented with 50 μM FAC) were seeded at 2.5 × 105 cells per well in 6-well plates and reverse transfected with scrambled siRNA, HIF1A siRNA, and/or HIF2A siRNA in the same combinations and concentrations used in Figure 5. Twenty-four hours after transfection, media was replaced with CM without antibiotics supplemented with 100 μM DFO (+DFO) or with CM without antibiotics (−DFO). Proteins were harvested 12 hours after the change in media. n = 4 per group. For both bar graphs, data represent mean ± SD. **P < .01, ***P < .001, and ****P < .0001 by 2-way (panel B) or 1-way ANOVA (panel C) with Tukey’s post hoc test. Numbers on the right indicate the position of molecular weight markers in kiloDaltons.